Ten pin bowling pinseting machines which are currently available and in use are arranged to be mounted on the kickbacks at the sides of a bowling lane so as to be located above the pindeck and pit area. Such machines which perform the function of elevating, storing and transferring pins prior to setting them on the pindeck physically obstruct the pindeck and pin areas so that access thereto is difficult particularly during resurfacing and other maintenance tasks such as cleaning and repair resulting in high labour costs for maintenance purposes. Furthermore, the known machines cause visual obstruction of the pindeck thereby limiting filming and observation opportunities.
Generally the above machines incorporate arrangements for lifting bowling balls which operate by means of belts or friction drives. This can result in friction damage to the bowling balls as well as high maintenance due to ball spins caused by lane conditioner, undersize bowling balls or poor adjustments. Some of the known machines are also provided with rolling pit carpets which use roller drives, however, such carpets suffer from extensive and rapid wear caused by misalignment so that the entire carpet assembly is required to be removed from the pit for cleaning, repair or replacement.